The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested a Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) leader from Sharonpara, in the outskirts of Bandarban. His name is Cheosim Bom, 55. He is the Bandarban KNF's chief coordinator.
RAB-15 commandant Col. Sajjad revealed this information at a media briefing held at 3:30 pm Sunday afternoon.
At the RAB media briefing held at the zila parishad auditorium, it was said that Cheosim Bom was arrested from his home in Sharonpara Saturday night. He is the Bandarban Sadar upazila KNF chief coordinator.
Several members of the Bom community, on condition of anonymity, said that a meeting had been held between the KNF chief Nathan Bom and the militant group Jamaat ul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharaqiya's chief coordinator Shamim Mahfuz in Cheosim's Sharonpara home. The meeting had been held around the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022.
Some say that the agreement with the militant group Sharaqiya was done in his house. KNF members were training the militants for a payment of Tk 300,000 a month.
A meeting had been held between the KNF chief Nathan Bom and the militant group Jamaat ul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharaqiya's chief coordinator Shamim Mahfuz in Cheosim's Sharonpara home
In May last year a 'committee to establish peace' had been formed, headed by zila parishad chairman Keyshai Hla Marma, to rehabilitate the KNF members. A meeting was held with the committee on 5 March at Bethel Para. Amidst the peace talks, KNF members looted Sonali Bank in Ruma, Bandarban on 2 April, and on the next day, 3 April, they raided Sonali Bank and Krishi Bank in Thanchi. They made off with Tk 1.7 million (Tk 17 lakh) and 14 firearms including two light machine guns (LMG). They also abducted the Sonali Bank Ruma branch manager Nezam Uddin.
After these two consecutive acts of terror, the law enforcement including the army took up an operation against the group.
KNF began its activities around mid-2022. The new militant organisation in the plain land Jamaat ul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharaqiya took training in the KNF camp in the hills, the law enforcement agencies had told the media earlier. Several members of Jamaat ul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharaqiya and KNF were arrested last year in a raid on the camp.